The Irish women’s rugby sevens team are without a doubt buzzing for their first Olympic Games this summer, so much so that they even marked their qualification with a tattoo.
They may be holding off on adding the Olympic rings to that ink collection just yet, but as Kathy Baker and Anna McGann explained at the Her Sport Awards, they’ve certainly bought into a collective mindset as part of the hive that is the sevens rugby network.
“Our psychologist Siobhan did a lot of work with us and she kind of came up with this theory that you know it’s a beehive and that we’re all in the hive and we can kind of ignore the external things outside of it,” McGann explains.
“So when we qualified we said we’d all get bee tattoos,” she continued.
“And true to our word, we’ve all got a bee,” Baker adds.
The squad went on to qualify for the illustrious quadrennial competition at the World Rugby Seven Series back in May of 2023, coming out victorious, 10-5, over Fiji in the fifth-place semi-final.
Just this week the Irish women’s rugby sevens team made history to become the first IRFU sevens side to win a World Series title, defeating hosts Australia 19-14 in the final of the HSBC SVNS Series tournament in Perth.
The cherry on top was that the side were also awarded the Her Sport Team of the Year sponsored by Sky accolade at this year’s awards, recognising their Olympic qualification, as well as their bronze medal at the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series and a 7th overall finish in the HSBC SVNS Series in 2023.
With their recent success and Paris 2024 looming, they’ll be hoping to continue to draw honey from the pot this summer.
The Team Of Year Award is sponsored by Sky.
